Yes there was a time, when in India we used coins called Athanni (half rupee), Chavanni (quarter rupee) or say four Aannas, 2 Paisa coin and round one paisa coin of brass with a round hole also in the middle.
That was another period. There were chaupals, especially in villages where people gathered and talked about everything they liked. Today’s Chaupals are on the net, where people do not meet each other but feel that they know each-other very much, but this is not a feeling with those whom they regularly meet!

And I do remember, we had a boss, I was working in HR deptt. Of company, which now is in Maha Navratna category. Our boss, Mr. R.N.Ramji by name kept a pen and a big hanky type cloth, he often wiped his pen with that hanky, and wrote his considered view on the files. Often files remained for a long time with him but once a file passed through him, it was considered that it is legally vetted. Has passed the real test.

He was a great HR man, never compromised on anything, I remember one vigilance person who came on deputation from CBI, wanted accommodation of a category higher than his entitlement, Mr. Ramji did not agree for that and had to face vigilance case, as the person got enquiry conducted against him through CBI misusing his contacts there.

Anyway besides his straight forwardness, another quality that Mr. Ramji was known for, was his habit of writing with that particular pen, which might have been with him for a long time and which he cleaned by that particular hanky type cloth at regular intervals.

Yes I also did use fountain pen or say Ink pen for some initial years but then the pen manufacturers realized my problems in using fountain pens and also of new people like me, who often spoilt their shirts, specially pockets by the leakage of the fountain pens.

Though it was the time when special emphasis was laid on how to hold pen and how to develop attractive handwriting, however I was not among those who excelled in this field.

I think after the period when regular use of fountain pens had become very less, then also gift packs of fountain pens continued for a long time. Perhaps the manufacturers tried to push once more in that way, however like the periods of Moghuls and British came to an end, that of fountain pens also had to end.

Like in the initial years, when we wrote on a wooden board called ‘Takhti’ , we wrote there with wooden or ‘Sarkanda’ pen or say ‘kalam’ , in which we developed the tip for writing, by cutting the ‘Kalam’ by a knife, we made attractive tips, which produce good writing for us, and for writing, these wooden boards or say ‘Takhtis’ were cleaned and a special type of yellow paste of ‘Multani Mitti’ was applied on it, and then drying it before writing, was also an exercise. For Ink also there were ‘tablets’ and making a good ink for writing was also an exercise.
These were special days, specifically when one started writing on paper using a fountain-pen, he was a big man. There were so many options in pens and I understand that some pens were very much costly, some were imported also. Everything depending on the tip, material and durability of the ‘Nib’ and the resultant writing etc.

Then came the Ball pens and we can say that these are things of socialist era, these do not cost much, I think all ball pens today cost very less. For making any ball-pen costly, I think only outer decoration might be important factor.

Today, people do not even use ball pens. Actually it is not an era of doing anything with our hands, with device like pen or ball-pen. Further the environmentalists also motivate lazy persons like me to use less and less paper, that means do everything using a computer, where we can digitally send the messages or if we have to take a print, we take it only when the draft is final and now if we use a pen or ball-pen, it is only for signing.

This is the time when we are doing less and less physical work, which includes writing also, many people give dictation to some steno etc. but we are moving in the direction where the dictation may also be taken directly by the computer or the lappy.

Yes, fountain pens remind me of those old days and tell us how sudden changes have occurred in our lives, especially in the field of written communication.

These are my views on the #Indispire prompt- When was the last time you wrote with an ink pen? Do you still use one? Do you yearn for one? Write about ink pens. #InkPen .

Thanks for reading.

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